One year ago, then-former President Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The tragic event, which resulted in the death of a rallygoer, Corey Comperatore, transformed the 2024 presidential race. In Butler, there is still little in the way of answers. This Washington Examiner series will look at where things stand one year on, Secret Service reforms, and the rise in political violence in the United States. In the second installment, reporter Brady Knox, who was in the crowd last year on July 13, recounts how Trump’s defiant response sealed his reputation as America’s fighter.
From the perspective of most in the crowd, for about 20 to 30 seconds, it looked as if then-presidential candidate Donald Trump had been killed.
July 13, 2024, was a miserable day in Butler, Pennsylvania. The heat was intense, and the crowd was squished together, which made many irritable. Tensions eased quickly when Trump arrived around 6 p.m. and was greeted by cheers.
Roughly six minutes after he began speaking, a sound like firecrackers was heard. Most witnesses first thought someone had sneaked in firecrackers to troll the president. This belief was quickly shattered between the third and fourth pop, when Trump grabbed his ear and went behind the podium.
Those within the metal barricades could hardly move, so the only way to go was down. Nearly everyone quickly hit the ground, often with some assistance from neighbors, as the shock of the event left many stunned.
Many could be heard praying while pressed against the ground. Eight pops were heard in total. Everyone stayed pressed against the ground for 20 to 30 seconds, until curious heads began to pop up. Trump was still down, but movement from the Secret Service could be seen at the sides of the podium. Police in tactical gear and assault rifles took position on the stage.
Trump slowly rose from behind the podium. When the crowd got a better view, it only worsened fears. Blood was streaming down his face. It seemed as though he’d been mortally wounded. I could hear wails from some in the crowd around me at the sight of him.
Suddenly, Trump began to raise his fist, cautiously for a moment and then boldly. Time seemed to freeze as Trump pumped his fist, proclaiming, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
It seemed as though a wave of electricity burst through the crowd. The loudest and wildest cheers of the day broke out. The seconds of horror transformed into a feeling of ecstasy in the audience.
“I just remember us screaming, and I couldn’t even tell you what I screamed. Just ‘Fight,’ or ‘You’re the greatest,’ or I don’t even know,” said Dawn Pasquinelli, a rally attendee.
Dale Ferguson, another attendee, described it as an almost otherworldly event in which time stood still in anticipation of Trump’s next move.
“We were all just sort of standing there, kind of silently, almost, and time just seemed to stand still. And he rose, and my first recollection was, ‘Boy, he looked defiant,’ like he was mad. … He rose up, and he had something he needed to do. … He looked determined, he looked defiant, and he raised his fist and pumped his arm, and … you could see the look in his eye, and you knew he was going to be OK,” she said.
Republican Butler County Commissioner Kimberly Geyer had a better view of the sequence of events because she was about 20 feet behind Trump, in the bleachers.
“Everybody stood in place because they were just waiting anxiously to see what was going to happen next. And when he rose from behind the podium, and then he said, ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ Everybody just went crazy, everybody went wild, just cheering,” she said.
Trump has taken on many appearances throughout his decades in public life: businessman, negotiator, reality television host, statesman, and politician. On July 13, he morphed into an entirely new image, especially in the eyes of his supporters in the crowd: that of a warrior.
Attendees spoke of Trump as if he had won a great battle at Butler and gone on to win the wider war. His supporters at the rally took on the mantle of soldiers, ready to join him in the campaign. It comes as little surprise, given Trump’s plea to the crowd sounded like a war call and urged his supporters to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
“I was fired up, like we could have gone into battle that moment, and I’d have been there,” Pasquinelli said.
She leaned into her war metaphor later, saying the assassination attempt had completely changed her approach to Trump and politics. Almost referring to her Trump gear as a uniform, Pasquinelli said she now wears it with pride, inspired by his warrior spirit.
“I don’t mean to disrespect anybody in war, but I was kind of like, ‘I’d go to battle for him,’” she said. “I was a pretty strong supporter, but then I completely changed. … I looked at him as a warrior for our country.”
“It’s just like a true man who loved our country, who loves Americans, and who was willing to fight against all these people that wanted to do him and us harm, and yet he was not afraid,” Pasquinelli continued, adding that the feeling hasn’t dampened at all one year later.
That Trump’s first reaction was to assure his supporters he was OK after being shot, she said, showed selflessness and an iron will unlike any other leader she knows.
Ferguson said, “I don’t think anybody who could see that, to see what happened, could not come away with the fact that he is a fighter and he’s willing to lay it all on the line for our country.”
His war call had been slightly ambiguous, but most of his supporters at the rally believed they had it figured out.
“I interpreted it … he was saying, ‘Stand up and fight for your country. Fight for your convictions, your morals, your values. Fight for everything that makes this country so great,’” Geyer said.
“I always knew he was such a fighter. And, you know, I think what he was telling us was as a country, to fight for our country, to stand up and fight for our country,” she added later. “He, at that point in time, really set the example of what it is to be resilient and to move forward. You know, he wasn’t giving up. I mean, I just thought he was really setting an example for the rest of us, that we got to keep moving. You know, we’ve got to keep fighting for our country.”
As with any great warrior, part of the perception is that Trump truly cares about the soldiers under his command. His decision to return to Butler in October was viewed as a great honor to the county where he had fought his bloodiest battle.
“He came back, and he did Butler the way it was supposed to be done the first time and was like, ‘Screw you. I’m not scared.’ And this community, it was like he knew the community needed him to … just come back and have that rally, instead of leaving us with the one where he was almost killed,” rally attendee Courtney Hetzler said, adding he performed the deed “not for himself but for that community.”
The attempted assassination of Trump, its immediate aftermath, and the iconic picture of him raising his fist with blood streaming down his face and the American flag in the background immediately became one of the most iconic moments in modern U.S. history. The cinematic nature of the saga led to a variety of interpretations. Some on the Left believed it was too good to be true and that Trump or his allies had staged the tragedy to gin up support. Such claims quickly went viral over social media.
Trump supporters at the rally waved off attempts to rationalize the event. Instead, they viewed his survival as nothing less than divine intervention.
This view is nearly unanimous among his supporters at the July 13 rally. For many, this translates into a modern embodiment of the divine right of kings, that Trump’s current legitimacy as president stems from God saving his life at Butler.
“What I believe with every fiber of my being is that it was divine intervention. We witnessed an absolute miracle, and I believe he’s chosen as the face of fighting evil and saving our country, and by default, by saving the world,” Ferguson said. “I truly believe that that was God’s way of letting everybody know that this is that, this was divine intervention, and he was chosen for this moment in this time, definitely.”
This view was reflected by nearly everyone she’s spoken with, she said.
Most of those who decided to bear the sweltering heat on July 13 were devoted supporters of Trump. But many others were more marginal supporters, likely voters who could appreciate Trump’s antics but weren’t enthusiastic. Others were fans but kept quiet due to social pressures. For many of these, this changed on July 13.
Hetzler described herself before the shooting as a “quiet Trump supporter, not a vocal Trump supporter.” Witnessing the assassination attempt “changed everything.”
“I thought, I’m in,” she said.
Many in the crowd were so entranced by the display that they felt a personal connection to Trump in that moment. Hetzler and Pasquinelli said they argued over who Trump was looking at when he raised his fist.
“I’m like, he was looking at me. She’s like, ‘No, he wasn’t. He was looking at me.’ I’m like, ‘I swear to God, that man’s eyes locked with mine.’ ‘I’m telling you, he was looking at me’” as he raised his fist, Hetzler argued.
The crowd must have understood the message Trump was conveying, she speculated.
“That’s probably how everyone that was that close to him felt, like he was looking right at us, just telling us, ‘Keep this going. I’m good, I’m fighting.’ And that was just crazy. And then we were cheering like it was, that was just a moment,” she said.
All four attendees interviewed returned to Butler in October. Pasquinelli said her children were against her going, but Trump’s display encouraged her to go.
“I can’t let that man go there, be the warrior for our country, be not afraid to stand up against literally pure evil,” she said, referring to Trump’s attempted assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. “Just absolute evil that you could despise a man so much that you would want to hurt him and other people. And I thought if [Trump’s] not afraid, I’m not afraid.”
RALLY ATTENDEES SAY TRUMP’S RETURN TO BUTLER TOOK ON A SENTIMENTAL TONE
Reflecting one year later, Ferguson described her perception of Trump as only growing more potent with time. When asked her predominant feeling when thinking about July 13, she said gratitude.
“I’m just feeling grateful, grateful for having the experience and then just grateful that perhaps it was the start of the saving of our country,” she said.